Gothic War
by Mattwho81
Summary: A compliation of short stories based on the Games Workshop series Battlefleet Gothic. Credit to Gordon Rennie.


_+++Prophecy+++_

"_This is the place" The Chaos Sorcerer's voice was little more than a harsh whisper._

_The small force of Chaos Marines stood in a withered glade, the grass at their feet was dark and burnt, the trees hung limply as if drained of life. In the middle of the clearing was a rocky hill, a small cave opening in front of them. Tendrils of dank smog drifted lazily through the air from the hole, its rancid odour easily picked up by the enhanced senses of the renegades._

_Abaddon the Despoiler, War-Master of Chaos and thrice accursed traitor to all that was good and pure, stepped forwards and stared at the cave entrance as if daring some hideous beast to rush forth and challenge him._

"_I will go alone, stay here and keep a watchful eye" The Despoiler commanded._

_As Abaddon stepped inside, he was plunged into near-darkness, the dismal light of the world's ancient sun barely penetrating more than a few feet into the cavern. His superior eyes quickly adjusted to the gloomy interior and within moments he was able to see clearly. The cave was hung with grisly decorations, animal skulls, human bones and other less easily identifiable entrails, trailing through the air. Wind chimes made from hollowed bones hung low from the ceiling, some of them drilled so that the faint wind caused them to produce shrieks and wails. The Despoiler was unimpressed, such baubles might seem frightening to mere mortals, but he had waged war for ten thousand years, strode across countless battlefields laying waste to his enemies. Whole planetary populations had been enslaved or put to death in his name; he had little to fear from this place._

_The smoke was billowing intermittently from a small fire in the centre of the cave, burning some noxious fuel that gave off purple flames, which seemed to exaggerate the shadows rather than provide any real light. In the darkness Abaddon could make out a hunched figure by the fireside. It was swathed in rags, which must once must have been a deep green but were now faded to dull grey and grinned with dust, mud and bloodstains._

"_Greeting Abaddon, thrice-cursed destroyer of worlds", the wheezing voice was quavering and the speaker degenerated into racking coughs for a moment. Abaddon strode into the central chamber and stood before the crouching figure. _

"_You know why I am here, hag. Tell me what I need to know!" He demanded, his voice a menacing growl._

_The figure turned its head and let its frayed hood fall back. The woman's face was haggard and lined, her scalp bald except for a few wispy strands of pure white hair. It was then that Abaddon noticed that her eye sockets were empty: shrivelled holes that still wept a slight trickle of blood._

"_The mighty Abaddon, come here to consult with old Moriana. What price will you pay?" the withered woman asked._

_Abaddon leant forwards and grasped the seer's neck in his lightning claw, squeezing ever so slightly._

"_If you do not tell me my destiny, it is you who will pay with your life!"_

_The hag cackled them, a screeching laugh that set the Despoiler's teeth on edge._

"_Kill me and you will never know!" she retorted, her cracked, blistered lips twisted into a sneer. "You will not live to see the end of the year, killed by a traitor in your own ranks. Stop this foolishness, I have dealt with creatures far more horrific than you and I do not fear death at your hand"._

_With a growl Abaddon released his grip and stepped back. The haggard old woman stood up with the cracking of bones and gasps for breath. She hobbled over to a pile of ill-made pottery jugs and took a handful of foul-smelling leaves from one. Casting them into the fire, she seemed to gaze into the flames, though she had no eyes._

"_Your future is twisted and turning. You will either achieve your goals or your masters will strike you down for your disloyalty. The Ruinous Powers tolerate no one who betrays them and to think that you can rival them…" The hag laughed again, "I see Blackstone jewels in the stars, a circle of six, but they sleep yet and must be awakened by you. Seek the Hand of Darkness in the place between salvation and damnation for with it you shall guide the doom of suns. Take the Eye of Night from the stunted men and see the path laid out for you. With these, the citadels of the ether will be your to command, their power yours to unleash. Ride upon the storms of Chaos that will come soon. Gather your rivals about you, and train the wolves to heed your call. Send discord and terror through a thousand worlds, but be swift for destiny does not wait for those who are cautious. That is the way to control your destiny, to set yourself up to rival the corpse god of men. A chorus of a billion throats will cry out your name in fear and hatred, the stars themselves will run with blood. If you have the stomach for it, Despoiler."_

_The seer nodded to herself as she finished, dousing the flames with a splash of water from the cracked gourd beside her. _

"_You speak in meaningless riddles. Where is this place between salvation and damnation? What are these jewels? Tell me or die now!" Abaddon demanded ripping his Daemonblade from its scabbard, its unearthly glow bathing the inside of the cave in a baleful glare._

"_If you would set yourself up as a god, you must use your head as well as your fists, ignorant fool!" the Hag spat back, her voice suddenly strong and full of contempt._

"_I will remember your insolence crone." Abaddon threatened, pointing the baneful sword at the old woman. The seer did not reply, but merely turned away from the Despoiler to show that the consultation had ended. Abaddon snarled to himself and strode out, his bulky Terminator armour smashing through the grisly wind chimes and causing a cacophony of rattling wails._

_The Sorcerer was waiting outside with Abaddon's bodyguard, his eyes full of questions._

"_What did she say, master? Did she mention me?" he asked, stepping next to Abaddon who ignored the follower of Tzeentch for a moment, lost in thought. With a grunt he turned suddenly to face Zaraphiston, causing the Sorcerer to flinch as Abaddon's Daemonblade flashed past his face._

"_Signal my fleet" Abaddon ordered, "We seek our destiny in the stars!" _

**Gothic War**

**In the early 41st Millennium the Imperium was assailed by a terrible Black Crusade. Led by Abaddon the Despoiler himself the 12th Black Crusade wrought carnage across imperial space and devastated the Gothic Sector. The 12th Black Crusade stands out from all others for two reasons, firstly it was fought far from the Eye of Terror and the formidable defences surrounding it. Secondly it was a war whose significant battles occurred mostly in space, though there were thousands of ground campaigns launched by both sides throughout the war. The horrors released during this dark time would set in motion a chain of events whose full implications would not become apparent for another eight centuries.**

**Gothic Sector**

The Gothic Sector is a region of space located far to the galactic north of Terra, deep in Segmentum Obscuras. There may well have been some exploration of the region during the Great Crusade, but it was not until the 32nd Millennium that the Imperium established a proper military presence in the region. Located several thousand light-years spinwards of the Eye of Terror the Gothic Sector was considered strategically insignificant. Along its dorsal edge it neighboured the Tamahl Sector, which was much more prosperous, and below it was vast tracts of unexplored wilderness space. A local Battlefleet was established to police the Gothic Sector and its commander in the second century of Millennium 41 was Lord Admiral Cornelius Ravensburg.

Although, like all sectors, the Gothic Sector contained hundreds of planets the local commanders only considered a mere handful of these strategically important. These were grouped together into smaller tactical zones known as sub-sectors, of which the Gothic Sector boasted seven.

The most important sub-sector was Port Maw, located at the nexus of no less than four Warp currents it was the lynchpin of Imperial power in the Gothic sector and as such the most heavily defended zone in the region.

The Lysades sub was the highest in the Gothic Sector and was the main route for trade with the neighbouring Tamahl Sector. As such worlds in the Lysades sub were prosperous, cosmopolitan and could afford considerable defence networks.

Laying to Rimwards from the Lysades was the Cyclops Cluster, a dense area of young stars; seen as the heartland of the Gothic Sector it boasted a significant naval presence.

In the centre of the sector was the Quinrox Sound sub-sector, a loose group of stars boarding the fearsome Allas Supernova. This region was noted for its brutal but mineral rich worlds and also its unusually high incidence of mutation, probably as a direct result of radiation from the nearby Nova.

Along the spin wards edge of the Gothic Sector was the Bhein Morr sub-sector, an old and civilised region. Bhein Morr was seen as the cultural epicentre of the Gothic Sector. Planets here were noted for their devotion and being rich recruitment grounds. However the nearby Graildark Nebula, which officially lay beyond the borders of the Gothic Sector, was a haven for pirates and also rumoured to be filled with mysterious xenon artefacts.

The lowest subsector in the region was known as Gethsemane, the industrial centre for the Sector. With no less than three hive worlds Gethsemane was the mighty pump that kept the entire region alive.

To the lower corewards vector lay Orar, the furthest outpost of Imperial might. Bordering the mysterious nebula known only as the Hammerhead deeps, Orar was a haven for adventurers and explorers. Many famous Captains had set forth from Orar to explore the Wilderness zones beyond, though few had returned.

Though the region had its own heroes and villains, saints and sinners it was considered unimportant by the High Lords of Terra By the dawn of the 41st Millennium the Gothic Sector had made virtually no impact on galactic history.

All that was about to change.

_+++The Blackstone Fortresses+++_

_The pride of the Gothic Sector was the massive and enigmatic artefacts known only as the Blackstone Fortresses. There were six Blackstone Fortresses known to exist in the 41st Millennium, and they had long been the source of speculation and countless sailors tales. Built long before the evolution of Man their technology surpasses all known galactic races and identity of their builders have long since faded into the mists of time. Since their discovery in the 32nd Millennium all attempts to date them have proved inconclusive and no Tech-Priest has ever communed with their elusive Machine-Spirits._

_The mighty Blackstone Fortresses were the foundation of Imperial Naval strategy and presence in the Gothic Sector. With the exception of Port Maw, each sub-sector was based upon the location of a Blackstone Fortress, which functioned as the primary Naval base for the sub-sector. Although almost entirely dormant, a Blackstone Fortress was still open to exploitation by Imperial forces. The Adeptus Mechanicus linked numerous weapon systems to its alien and near-incomprehensible energy grid, opened up vast chambers to be used as strike craft launch bays and installed defence turrets over its surface. As such the Blackstones became the pinnacle of space station engineering and served Battlefleet Gothic for many Millennia._

_It is a terrible tragedy that the Imperium never realised the potential of what they had in their possession until it was far too late. _

**139-142.M41: Omens of Darkness**

**Many Imperial scholars believe the Gothic War to have started several years before the first invasion fleets actually entered the Gothic Sector. With hindsight, a number of seemingly unconnected events can be linked together, warning of the darkness and bloodshed that was to come.**

The Arx raid:

Although the bulk of the Imperium's defences around the Eye of Terror are based in the area known as the Cadia Gate, there are many monitoring stations throughout the Segmentum Obscuras. These outposts are constantly raided and attacked by the Emperor's foes, but during the mid-second century of the 41st Millennium, the number of these attacks dramatically increased. Most important of all, in the eyes of scholars is the attack on the watch station at Arx. Due to its low priority and importance, Arx was inhabited by only a skeleton garrison of the Imperial Guard, whose duty it was to protect the few Tech-Priests required to maintain the station's observation equipment.

Early in the 139.M41, the scout frigate '_Ascendance'_ received a garbled plea for help from Arx station's aging Astropath. The attackers were unknown and when the reinforcements arrived four months later, there was no sign of those responsible. The Imperial Guardsmen stationed on the planet had been wiped out. As Captain Thetis of the 122nd Borlain Guard wrote in his journal, '_They had been horribly butchered, their mutilated bodies left to the ever present scavenging wild dogs that are Arx's only natural predators'._

The Inquisition sent one of their agents, the experienced Inquisitor Horst, but there was little evidence for him to uncover. If Arx had been the only outpost attacked in this way, the raid would have become just another riddle in a galaxy full of mysteries soon to be forgotten. However over the next three months a number of similar attacks were reported throughout the region and Inquisitor Horst began to suspect that some larger scheme was in motion. However with no proof to support his instincts or identify the attackers, he decided to watch and wait for his enigmatic enemy to make another move.

A Plague of Damnation

Just over a year after the Arx raid, several patrol vessels made grisly discoveries in the Athena Sector. A number of civilian ships were found drifting uncontrolled through wilderness space. Upon being boarded, it was found that the crews of the ships were all dead, their disease-ridden corpses strewn along corridors and gantries, some found still at their workstations. Xebal Astolax, Magos Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus, listed the various symptoms he encountered on his examination of corpses from the merchant vessel Shanxi, '_The skin was blisters with many weeping sores, the blood thin and watery. Fungal growths were found within the brain cavity, which must have caused extreme pain and delirium when the victims were still alive'._

Each ship also bore the scars of a brief space battle and signs of being boarded, though no enemy dead could be found. As Inquisitor Horst puzzled over these new developments, his many agents and spies brought more news. A rumour was spreading amongst the Captains of the Imperial Navy concerning an ancient, despised Chaos ship known as the '_Plagueclaw'_. Crewed by the pestilential followers of the God of Decay, this ship had been the scourge of the Navy for ten millennia. The infection of the ship's crews and the reappearance of the '_Plagueclaw'_ must have been more than a coincidence and when a force of Chaos Marines from the Death Guard traitor Legion sacked the hive world of Morganghast, Horst was convinced that the forces of Chaos were planning another major incursion. The watch posts around the Cadian Gate were put on close alert and Navy ships from all over Segmentum Obscuras were detailed to increase patrols around Cadia.

Anarchy Spreads

While Inquisitor Horst investigated the Chaos activity around Arx and its neighbouring systems, events began to take an even more sinister turn in the Gothic Sector, 2,500 light years away. The Navigators of the Navis Nobilite reported greater disturbances of Warp storms gradually increasing as the year went on. On many worlds, this news was received with panic, a situation that was made more precarious by several religious fanatics declaring that the Emperor was displeased and was sending Warp storms to purge the unholy.

This led to a number of sects forming, members stricken with feelings of impending doom. They were desperate for the Emperor's forgiveness and as the shocked preacher of Flexburg noted: "_They spend their whole time flagellating themselves to purify their souls, decrying the excesses of their fellow men and driving their neighbours to cast out the sinful and purge their own blasphemies. Though very laudable behaviour in itself, they have forgotten their sacred duties to the Emperor: while they wail and gnash their teeth, the coffers rattle emptily!_"

On many planets, the cults became powerful, swelled by popular support to such a degree that the Ecclesiarchy (and sometimes even the planetary government) could do nothing to stop the rampaging hordes. As the hysteria spread, lynch mobs roamed hive cities and mining colonies seeking the impure. Impromptu burnings and hangings became commonplace as the desperate citizens threw themselves into a fervour of apocalyptic faith, scouring their friends and loved ones to atone for real or imagined sins against the Emperor. Yet it was to no avail, Fleet-Admiral Bratha, when sending a message to the Naval base at Port Maw, lamented, "_And still the Warp swirls and rages and the situation becomes ever more desperate"_.

Under cover of widespread paranoia, secret cults and covens insinuated themselves into positions of power, subverting ever more people to their twisted causes. Misguided followers of the Dark Gods openly proclaimed that Chaos would save humanity when the Emperor had turned from them. Thousands, even millions, of Imperial citizens were deluded by false promises, flocking to these calls and the Inquisition was hard pressed to root out every cult member, deviant and heretic. To make the situation worse, several Naval vessels were destroyed in dock, by reactor overloads and magazine explosions. Though official reports declared the incidents the result of poor maintenance, faulty ammunition or other ordinary causes, many readily believed the tales of sabotage and rebellion within the Navy's own ranks.

The Hand of Darkness

While the Gothic Sector was being engulfed in anarchy and confusion, Horst was searching for more clues to the plans of heretics. When he heard of a Chaos attack on the Imperial world of Purgatory, he demanded to accompany the investigation fleet. There was one thing that made Purgatory different from the dozens of other raids, the device known only as the Hand of Darkness. Its existence known only to a few of the most trusted members of the Inquisition, the Hand of Darkness was an incredibly ancient alien artefact located deep beneath the surface of Purgatory. All attempts to divine its purpose had proved fruitless, yet distant legends, from older races such as the Eldar, spoke of the Hand of Darkness with horror and revulsion. It was widely believed to be a weapon of immeasurable power, although its exact functioning was a mystery. When Horst arrived at Purgatory, the Inquisitor's deepest fears had come true; the Hand of Darkness was gone. If the followers of Chaos learned how to activate this unimaginably potent weapon, who could tell what destructive power they could unleash on the forces of the Imperium?

The Invasion of Ornsworld

Horst knew of another artefact connected to the Hand of Darkness in the old myths. Called the Eye of Night it was located on the Ratling planet of Ornsworld. As Horst sped towards it on the fastest ship he could commandeer, a report came in of an attack on the Ratlings. A small force of renegades had landed close to where the Eye was embedded in an ancient statue, worshipped as a god by the Ratlings in pre-Imperial times. After a brief skirmish, an Imperial Guard recruiting a force stationed near to the Chaos force's landing site drove off this initial foray. However a month later Chaos ships blockaded Ornsworld and a full-scale invasion began. The defenceless Ratlings stood no chance against the depraved Chaos Marines and the death toll reached millions as the hills and mountains were scoured with fire and shells by the followers of the Ruinous powers. Lieutenant Compton, attached to the recruitment team, recorded the scenes that followed the attack: "_Piles of Ratlings skulls towered over the plains, funeral pyres blackened the skies as the Traitors systematically wiped out everything in their path. The small settlement of Esmerelda's Dale is now but a smoking crater, the bones of its 4,000 inhabitants crushed to powder and scattered over the surrounding area. A powerful seismic detonator brought down the mountainside, sweeping away seven towns and 82,000 Ratlings in a tide of crushing boulders and boiling mud slides._"

Amongst the carnage the Eye of Night was torn from its mounting and the thief slipped away into the stars. The forces of Chaos now had both the Hand of Darkness and the Eye of Night and with them they possessed unimaginable power. Inquisitor Horst was tormented by a single question: where would they strike first? The answer was to come all too soon.

The Storm Breaks

The venerable Inquisitor began compiling scattered reports of unusual activity in an ever-widening area, and learned of the disruption engulfing the Gothic Sector. As he headed for the region, more reports of sightings of Chaos vessels came to Horst's attention, reinforcing his belief that the Gothic Sector was to be the arena of this latest incursion. A month after Horst arrived in the sector, three years after he had begun investigating the Arx raid, a cataclysmic shockwave passed through the Warp. The massive storm engulfed the Gothic sector in swirling tempests, cutting the area off from the rest of the Imperium. Whatever happened next, Battlefleet Gothic would face it alone.

_+++Abaddon the Despoiler+++_

_Abaddon was Captain of the Luna Wolves 1st Company during the Great Crusade and he followed Horus from ancient Terra to conquer the distant stars. He worshipped the War-Master like a god and Horus treated him as his most favoured son. Indeed some whispered that he was in truth the clone son of the Primarch himself, produced by the earliest genetic-experimentation._

_When the Heresy came it was clear that Abaddon's loyalty was to his Primarch and not the distant Emperor of mankind. He led the Sons of Horus on Istvaan, Yarant and against the Emperor's palace on Terra. His anguish at Horus' death drove him deeper into madness and bloodlust than any mortal should ever sink. He took Horus' lightning claw, tearing it from the War-Master's armour with a howl of rage that echoed through the great ship. _

_Abaddon has fought to rebuild the reputation and pride of his Legion, always leading his men personally. At first his efforts won him the grudging respect of the other Traitor Legions, but as his deeds have grown mightier he has won their fear and awe too. His impassioned words have rekindled the Traitor Legions smouldering hatred of the Imperium and warriors from every Legion have fought beneath his banner. His Black Crusades have repeatedly devastated the Imperium and though Imperial history claims each was pushed back it is clear Abaddon has achieved his un-guessable objectives._

_Abaddon has marshalled his strength with care and now commands the loyalty of the mightiest champions in every Legion. Those who opposed him have been crushed, and those who join him add their strength to his hordes. Over centuries his might has reached unassailable heights and with each victory his power grows._

_The High Lords of Terra live in fear of the day that Abaddon unites the entire traitor Legions into an unstoppable horde and returns to play out the last acts of treachery begun by Horus ten thousand years ago._

**143.M41: Surprise Attack**

**The first outright battles of the Gothic War were fought as the year 143.M41 came to a close. During the first few months of conflict, Chaos fleets launched a number of wide ranging all out attacks against Imperial Navy bases within the sector.**

The First Strikes

Reports of attacking Chaos fleets flooded in from all across the Gothic sector. Much planning must have gone in to the all-important first strike, as the Chaos fleets targeted a dozen-major Imperial bases in the Gothic sector. With no warning, the renegades struck hard and fast, ambushing Imperial warships as they were in dock or orbiting around their stations. Caught unawares and already over stretched by the increased tension within the sector, Battlefleet Gothic was poorly prepared to respond to this sudden offensive. At Bladen, a hive world in the Lysades sub-sector, the carrier _'Archon Kort' _had her starboard flight decks blown clean off by Doomfire bombers. While on the far side of the Sector, in the Gethsemane sub, the attack on Cherys saw the '_Heartless Destroyer'_, cripple the cruiser '_Lord Sylvanus'_ so severely that it took over two years to refit her.

Orbiting stations also fell to the Chaos invaders, destroyed or captured by the swiftness of the assault. The loss of many of these orbital docks, such as Tripol Dock, Port Imperial and Gathara Station, was doubly felt as not only were many vessels in need of refitting but the facilities to do so were being put to use by the enemy. Captain Grove of the '_Admiral Drake'_ was one of the few survivors of the attack at Denerair in the Cyclops Cluster, which typified the style of attack used by the Chaos vessels. Grove and his crew were lucky to escape, as this log entry shows, "_Under attack from Traitor vessels. They approached from sunward, blinding our surveyors. Long-range torpedoes strikes have destroyed the 'Vanguard' and crippled 'Indomitus Imperious'. Broke from dock with the reactors still at 75% of operational capacity. Engaged in short ranged exchange with squadron of renegade escorts, disabling our starboard batteries and destroying the torpedo tubes. _

_Fires broke out in the port quarter galleries: the emergency bulkheads had to be lowered. Casualties estimated at 5,000 or more, many of them gun crews on the starboard decks. We are attempting to disengage, trying to avoid a Chaos Cruiser coming in around Denerair 's gravity well. Ordering all power to the engines to outrun him. Time to visit the ships' chapel and pray._"

Fortunately for the crew of the Admiral Drake and many others, the Chaos fleets were not actually seeking prolonged battle, preferring instead to hit hard and run. Battlefleet Gothic was left with heavy casualties, with many vessels destroyed or needing months of repairs and refits.

The Defence of Orar

However the Chaos fleets did not achieve total success. In a few battles the Traitors suffered serious reversals, most notably during the defence of the sub-sector capital world, Orar. When one of the many Chaos warfleets, led by Malefica Arkham of the Black Legion, ambushed the Imperial Battlegroup stationed at Orar, they did not find their enemy taken unawares and helpless. Having just received orders to help put down a rebellion in a neighbouring system, the Imperial Battlegroup was just preparing to break orbit. Led by Captain Compel Bast on the Mars class combat carrier '_Imperious'_, the Imperials easily evaded the raider's initial torpedo salvo and counter attacked.

What happened next is best summed up by Captain Bast himself: "_Unable to abort their attack, the Chaos ships swept onwards into a maelstrom of torpedoes, lance shots and battery fire from Orar's orbital defence platforms. Our own Nova cannon struck the reviled renegade 'Soulless' directly in her engine room, crippling her manoeuvring systems, (extra grog for the gun crews that night). Unable to turn the bastard flew straight into our crossfire, while the other Chaos ships abandoned their fellow and attempted to escape. With a torrent of fire pouring into its breached hull, the 'Soulless' finally destroyed itself as its Warp drives imploded._

_Meanwhile Arkham's ship, the 'Deathblade', had its bridge smashed to pieces by a lucky torpedo strike from the 'Iron Duke', (my compliments go to Captain Kiral). Rumour from Imperial spies say that Arkham was the only man on the bridge to crawl from the wreckage, somehow protected by his infernal masters._

_I cite our attack craft crews for their admirable performance of their duty. Several of our bomber wings were instrumental in reducing the 'Deathskull' to a hulk. Unfortunately we were unable to salvage any prizes as the hulk was gripped by Orar's pull and broken asunder in the upper atmosphere._"

Only a handful of Chaos escorts escaped without damage and the '_Deathblade_' with it's fleet was pursued out of the system by the vengeful Imperial Captains.

Unlikely Allies

Orar was not the only major setback inflicted upon the forces of Darkness during the opening stages of the war. In one incident a small Chaos fleet consisting of several squadrons of escorts, bound for a raid on Moab in the Cyclops Cluster, fell foul of the numerous bands of Ork pirates in the region. The garbled transmissions of the Chaos ships were intercepted, giving some idea of what happened.

Using their traditional tactic of lurking in an asteroid field for an unwary victim, the Orks leapt from hiding and plunged into the heart of the Chaos fleet. Unable to use their greater manoeuvrability amongst the asteroids the Chaos ships were mercilessly hammered by the Orks and not one Chaos vessel survived the battle.

Upon hearing this news, Lord Admiral Ravensburg was quoted as saying,_ "If he wasn't a damned greenskin, id make that commander my Flag-Captain_!" Although, when the Inquisition later interviewed him on the subject, he denied making this statement. Such occurrences were however rare and the greenskins were as happy to continue attacking Imperial shipping as they were to fight against the invading war fleets.

_+++Strafing Run+++_

_The cruiser Macharius was surrounded by a halo of tiny flickering lights, the flashes of fighter-mounted laser cannons and the detonations of exploding fighters as the strike craft battle raged around it. A determined thrust by the Orks opened up a breach in the fighter screen, two Furies from Hornet squadron falling victim to a combined hail of rockets and cannon fire. From his commanding position on the bridge of the Macharius, Captain Semper had a clear view of the incident as a flight of four Ork fighter/bombers broke through and sped directly towards him. They blazed a trail right up the dorsal spine of the main hull, bearing down fast on the ship's command tower. _

_The Ork craft were ugly, threatening things, garishly coloured and decorated with outlandish and primitive Ork rune-markings, bristling with combined fighter and bomber armaments and powered by crude and outrageously large chemical-reaction engines mounted on their wings. One of them was clipped by a strafing line of las-fire from a pursuing Fury and was instantly transformed into an exploding fireball. The other three opened up with their afterburners and threw off their pursuer, flying with almost suicidal recklessness amongst the thrusting peaks and spires of the ships superstructure._

_Semper studied their progress with detached calm, despite the fact that the command deck where he was now standing was undoubtedly their target. Crude but all too effective bomb/missiles hung beneath their wings, their warhead nose cones painted with savage and grinning Ork faces. Anti-ordnance fire reached up from the defence turrets studded along the Macharius' dorsal spine, but the angle of fire was poor and the Ork craft hugged the sheltering cover of the superstructure. _

_They were in the last stages of their attack run now, forced to finally leave the cover of the hull and arc upwards towards the command tower. Their trajectory brought them within reach of the anti-ordnance defences mounted on the command tower and up into the arc of fire from the hull defences. They were suitably punished for their recklessness, Lascannon fire and exploding flechette-missile detonations hammered into them from two different directions. The starboard side attacker blew apart, followed seconds later by his portside wingman. The centre fighter, one engine blazing, continued on towards its target._

_Semper stared down the attacker, locking eyes with the grinning, bestial image painted across the fighter's blunted nose: the face of some typically savage and unknowable war god. The Ork fighter was two hundred metres away, a second later and it was one hundred and fifty metres away. The time to lower the thickly armoured blast shields over the command deck' vulnerable viewing bay windows was minutes gone. The fighter opened fire, heavy cannon shells striking the reinforced transparisteel and forming cracks in its six-foot depth. Semper wondered why the pilot had not yet launched his primary missile armaments and could only guess that the damage his craft had sustained had somehow disabled his payload launch mechanisms. A suicide run then._

_Less than a hundred metres now._

_Semper could see the pilot inside the cockpit. The atmosphere was on fire, the pilot wreathed in flame. He was shouting some bestial war-chant, his expression one of savage glee. _

_Fifty metres. _

_Semper resisted the urge to look away or close his eyes. His grandfather may have survived to earn a peaceful retirement on the family estates on Cypra Mundi but his father and all his brothers had died on the command deck of a warship. Semper had always imagined that their fate would be his too and he was determined to meet that fate with the same stoicism with which they had faced it._

_Thirty metres._

_Semper could see the Ork roasting alive but still its cried out in glee._

_Twenty metres._

_Semper could see the rivets holding the ramshackle craft together straining under the tensions they were being subjected to._

_Ten metres._

_A final desperate burst of fire from one of the command deck turrets scythed through the Ork craft. A single shell smashed into one of the missiles slung under the Ork's wing and triggered its ignition sequence. _

_Eight metres._

_The Ork's wing exploded in bright yellow flame._

_Six metres._

_A fragment from the explosion ripped into the crude rocket engines and penetrated their fuel reserves._

_Four metres._

_The Ork craft began to expand outwards as its own fuel detonated and tore it apart._

_Two metres._

_The force of the explosion pulverised the Ork craft and reduced every single scrap of metal down to the size of a grain of sand._

_Zero metres._

_Captain Semper heard a faint pattering sound as his ship slid through the small dust cloud that used to be a plane…_

_He turned, catching a look of mutual relief on the face Flag-Lieutenant Ulanti, not realising until this moment that his second-in-command had been standing beside him the whole time, facing certain death with the same stoicism. Behind Ulanti Captain Semper could see the terrified dread painted on the faces of each and every member of his bridge crew. He summoned every last dreg of arch-reserve he could still muster and said evenly, "Mister Ulanti, make a note: extra target drill needed for the point defence gunnery crews. And find out who the crew were on that last burst of fire, and send them a case of the finest grog we have in the ship's stores with the captain's compliments." _

The Battle of Blackstone IV

The initial Chaos attacks struck at important installations such as Adeptus Mechanicus forge worlds and naval bases. Of the seventeen major bases in the Gothic Sector, six were founded upon the fabled Blackstone Fortresses. With defences rivalling that of Port Maw it was the pride of Battlefleet Gothic that no Blackstone Fortress had ever been taken in battle. This was to change at Rebo, in the Cyclops Cluster, where Blackstone IV orbited the system's fifth world. A Chaos fleet, suspected to be led by Abaddon himself, struck at Rebo. The Imperial ships on station put up a ferocious defence, but were overwhelmed by the size of the fleet facing them. Twelve capital ships, including two Despoiler class Battleships, and a score of escort frigates swept through Rebo's outer defences and closed on Blackstone IV itself.

The battle was short and bloody: just as the Chaos fleet closed to firing range, the Blackstone Fortresses' power grid shut down completely. With the energy grid dead, the guns were unable to fire, the armoured launch bay gates couldn't be opened and the crew were defenceless. Soon after this information was projected by the station's Chief Astropath, the system fell silent. When Imperial reinforcements reached Rebo they found the entire system's infrastructure obliterated, every Hive levelled by orbital fire and the few scattered survivors unable to comprehend the devastation wrought upon them. Of Blackstone IV there was no sign, not even debris.

The Death of Savaven.

Even as Abaddon pushed home his attack at Rebo, more disaster was to befall the loyal defenders of the Gothic Sector. At Savaven, a Cardinal world of the Ecclesiarchy, the few system defence ships could do little to protect their planet against a new and awesomely powerful vessel. Simply dubbed the '_Planet Killer'_, this monolithic leviathan bristled with gun decks, lances, shield generators, and it swept aside everything in its path. It bore no resemblance to any ship utilised by either the Imperium or the forces of Chaos, and many tech-priests hold that it could not have been physically constructed outside of the Eye of Terror.

As the defence monitors withdrew from its implacable advance the '_Planet Killer'_, achieved orbit over Savaven. Jereliah Soldagen, commander of the orbital defences platforms, was later to record the dreadful events to follow, "_Within the Planet Killer's central cavity, we could sense a massive power surge, hell we didn't need surveyors we could see it with the naked eye. Great bands of arcing energy twisted and leapt across the cavity, racing out into space and hurtling back as if they were alive. _

_Then with a blast that blotted the sun from our scanners, it opened fire. The energy beam bored deep into the crust and split the land apart. Hour after hour it kept on coming, Emperor alone knows how they could generate that much energy. We linked into the planetary surveyors to see what was happening on the surface. That bolt was boring its way straight through the crust and into the mantle beneath; magma surged forth through this nation-sized wound, breaking Savaven apart from within. The seas boiled, the skies darkened, the ice caps melted, whole continents were levelled by earthquakes and every volcano on the surface erupted simultaneously. _

_By the tenth hour the atmosphere was a quagmire of soot and carbon, totally unable to support life, and still the Planet Killer kept up its impossible torrent of energy flooding into Savaven. By the sixteenth hour great streams of rock and lava were being spewed straight into space, cooling instantly in the freezing depths of space, and still the Planet Killer kept firing. By the twentieth hour continent sized chunks of land were being shaken into the void as the planet shook like a wounded bear, and still the Planet Killer kept on firing. _

_In the twenty-forth hour Savaven just crumpled, like a ration pack crushed in your fist, then broke up into drifting asteroid fragments. Then the Planet Killer finally stopped firing and came about to make for deep space. There were fourteen billion people living on Savaven, fourteen billion dead in one day._"

Soldagen and the other survivors were to suffer traumatic mental breakdown after their rescue, and three months later they all took their own lives in a mass suicide. The effect on Imperial morale was devastating. All had heard of Exterminatus with cyclonic torpedoes and virus bombs, but to know the enemy had the ability to destroy an entire planet, not just its biosphere was a chilling thought. As the Imperial Navy reeled at this news, Inquisitor Horst was left wondering if this was the power gained from the Hand of Darkness and the Eye of Night. If not then something else much worse was sure to come.

Trouble with the Eldar

A constant problem for Lord Admiral Ravensburg, commander of Battlefleet Gothic, was the presence of a large number of Eldar in the sector, making swift forays from their hiding places within the Graildark nebula. It is even widely believed that an Eldar Craftworld was in the Gothic Sector during the war, though there were no confirmed sightings and its location was never determined. Of the pirate forces plaguing the Imperium, the force called the Executioners became highly active during the Gothic War. With no less than three separate raids carried out in 143.M41 alone. Unable to track the elusive Eldar ships back to their base, Lord Admiral Ravensburg could do little to defend against the aliens. It was up to individual battlegroup commanders to decide how best to act against their slippery foes.

The Wolf Packs Gather

Not only the Eldar preyed upon Imperium merchant shipping, bands of human and alien pirates also increased activity. Called Wolf Packs by the Naval officers who chased them, these roving bands of small vessels hunted the ships and convoys of the Imperium with unprecedented skill and daring. So effective and co-ordinated had these raiding attacks become that many Imperial tacticians presumed that they had somehow managed to unite together and create a widespread support system. The Inquisition diverted much of its resources to penetrating this supposed network, but such an endeavour would take time and all the while the attacks continued.

Admiral Koburn noted bitterly, "_If it came to a straight fight, they would be no match for our guns. But the raiders are canny, and never risk open battle if they can avoid it. The packs nibble at the heels of our convoys, capturing a single transport here, a merchantman there. Their favourite tactic is to lurk in asteroid fields or to operate from deserted moons, where they are hard to detect and even harder to root out. I even heard of one band that docked in a station in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant in the Fullarn system. Every month brings more reports of their attacks but we can not spare more ships from the line to escort the convoys._"

The Imperial fleet was fighting two enemies at once: the forces of Chaos and the pirates that had been a constant threat to Imperial shipping even before the war began. Everywhere the Imperial fleet was on the defensive, driven from world to world, system upon system. Losses were high and shipyards fought an ever-increasing battle for supplies and manpower. Darkness had descended upon the Gothic Sector and it looked as if the light would never return. 

**144.M41: The year of the Blackstones**

**The Imperium was beset by many Chaos fleets led by individual Warlords, later estimates vary from eight to twenty. Each was a force to rival any Battlegroup Lord Admiral Ravensburg could muster at the time. One in particular, led by the accursed Abaddon himself, was to pose the most serious threat of all.**

Lukitar Station

With the threat of Abaddon's Planet Killer looming over them, many Imperial worlds surrendered without a fight. System after system fell out of Imperial control and with them a number of shipyards and orbital docks. As the Imperium faced increasing difficulties in repairing its vessels, building new ones became ever more unlikely. With its critical early strikes, Chaos may well have won the war before it had even started. There was some hope for the Imperial Navy, on a desolate moon orbiting a gas giant in the Lukitar system was an Adeptus Mechanicus facility. The Tech-priests were already researching the wisdom of their predecessors to uncover lost knowledge of more powerful weapons, more efficient drives and better shields. Such work was anathema to the conservative Tech-Priests, but the pressures of war weighed heavily upon them and so they began a program of desperate innovation.

A few Imperial ships were fitted out with these improved systems, but the results were never entirely satisfactory. Any ship could only provide so much power and if gunnery was improved, communications would suffer, if engine power increased, the shields could not be sustained. The search continued though, with each new development slightly more successful than the last.

Then the ships of Abaddon arrived.

Commodore Vandez, commanding a squadron of four escort frigates, was the first commander to sight Abaddon since his attack on Blackstone IV, "_2__nd__ Watch, 29__th__ day of Aphrodael: The reports from the guardian stations were correct. Our surveyors have picked up an energy pulse of unimaginable magnitude, the crew are whispering fearfully of the Planet Killer, but that was last sighted in Saviour 65 light years away. We are proceeding at full power to investigate._

_9th Watch, 29th day of Aphrodael: Even seeing it with my eyes, I do not believe it! Several renegade capital ships are heading in-system; with them is a Blackstone Fortress! Damn my eyes, but its true! It looks different, more organic; somehow alive, if that possible. Our surveyors have picked up several weapon systems that are not Imperial in construction. How have they managed to wake the beast? Emperor's blood, they're building up energy to fire, even at this range._

_3__rd__ Watch, 1__st__ day of Sanacleus: We have left behind what remains of Lukitar station. The Blackstone Fortress proved almost impregnable to our weapons, it has weapon unlike any I have ever seen, even when chasing Eldar pirates! The Blackstone has pummelled Lukitar station to rubble, using some sort of warp blast that completely bypassed the shields! We are racing to reach the nearest warp point: Brinaga is only seven light years away and we must reach Blackstone VI first. If they can capture another of the Blackstones they will wield a power too great and terrible to imagine._"

Even with Vandez's warning there were few available ships left to defend Blackstone VI. As with the capture of the first Fortress, the Chaos fleets had some method of controlling the Blackstone from afar and turn it into a death trap for the tens of thousands of personnel aboard. The Imperial vessels fought a guerrilla war, striking from asteroids and gas giants before retreating to new bases, but it was only a matter of time.

Brinaga fell silent four months after the attack on Lukitar.

Immeasurable Power

While Lord Admiral Ravensburg pondered the many crises facing Battlefleet Gothic he was visited by none other than Inquisitor Horst. What passed between them was never recorded but it is known that they agreed upon a new strategy, one that ultimately not only alter the course of the war but also the fate of the Imperium itself.

However, before this plan achieved any visible results, news came through of another assault by Abaddon's fleet, this time at Blackstone I in the Fularis system. The ships log from the '_Vindictive' _records the attack: "_We are in luck today, the Chaos fleet has attacked from the other side of Fularis II, which means they'll have to dare the orbital defences to reach Blackstone I. We have only just upgraded our weapons on Fularis II for just such an occurrence and I doubt that even with his two Blackstone Fortress, our enemy will survive._"

The captain's optimism was to be cruelly shattered: "_The two Blackstones have taken up station five thousand kilometres from each other and some seventy five thousand kilometres from Fularis II, just outside of weapons range. We are picking up an energy surge in the two Blackstones, they're powering up for something. Tech-Priest Flavix says there's some kind of energy linking the two Blackstones. By the Throne! The surveyors are picking it up visually now, some sort of crackling energy arcing between them, linking them together! The surge is still rising, the power beam becoming more and more visible. The damned Astropaths are screaming now, yelling something about a disturbance in the Warp. What the hell…some sort of rift… what's going on? Oh my…_"

Satellite images recovered after the blast show some sort of energy beam being unleashed directly towards Fularis II. The '_Vindictive_' was caught in the backwash; her shields totally ineffective, her outer hull melted instantly and all her reactors blew out from the feedback, cutting life support to all decks. Fularis II was later to be found with its atmosphere stripped off and the surface scoured to a rocky plain.

Of Blackstone I, there was no sign.

**144-149.M41: The war continues**

**Across the entire Gothic Sector the Chaos and Imperial fleets clashed. For five long bloody years the battles continued, with the death toll running into the billions. Abaddon avoided the conventional tactics of interstellar war and kept up a lighting campaign, constantly striking minor targets while skirting bastions of resistance, ensuring that the Imperials were never able to rest or regroup. For five years the Imperium struggled to adapt, five years that saw countless worlds fall under the sway of Chaos. **

Slaughter among the stars

From the Hammerhead Deeps to the Cyclops Cluster, Imperial ships fought desperately to hold back the forces of Chaos. In some areas the Emperor's forces were hurled back by the ferocity of their foes, while others held against overwhelming odds. Countless brave men fell in those dark times but many more noble heroes stepped forth to take their place. It is impossible to chart exactly the ebb and flow of battle and many worlds changed hands four, five or even six times during this period. Abaddon's '_Planet Killer' _was sighted scores of times across the sector, yet was rarely deployed, it seems the terror its presence evoked worked to his advantage far more effectively. Yet on every officer's mind was a single question: Where had the Blackstone Fortresses gone?

By 147.M41 the Lysades sub-sector was almost entirely overrun and Chaos held sway in over a dozen systems surrounding Port Maw. However in the Cyclops Cluster the Orks gave the renegades stiff resistance and from staging points in Bhein Morr, Battlefleet Gothic launched many counter-attacks. Sometimes a Chaos fleet would be pushed back, bringing hope to the desperate millions, but incursions by other fleets would always draw off desperately needed ships to fight elsewhere.

While the Imperial Navy and the renegades duelled across the stars, the attacks from Ork pirates and the human Wolf Packs increased exponentially, (though attacks by Eldar raiders had mysteriously fallen off to almost nothing). With the watchful eye of the Imperial Navy elsewhere these bandits had a free rein. Convoys were captured, raiding parties sacked cities and on many worlds millions died of disease and starvation. Those few convoys that did get through safely often found enemy warships prowling through their destination system, blockading all craft and establishing a stranglehold on the worlds they besieged. On the hive world of Stranivar three hive cities were overcome with rioting due to shortages of drinkable water. With no incoming supplies, the worlds own recycling systems were unable to cope and four fifths of the population died from dehydration before the next convoy managed to break through.

Ruthless patrols and constant sweeps tried vainly to suppress the raiders, but there were just too many convoys and not enough ships to protect them. The attacks just kept coming and coming, running down convoys with almost prescient skill, many purges of the Navy caught some spies but to little effect. The docks and shipyards were starved of supplies and ships that put in for repairs and re-arming were frequently sent into battle with only makeshift refits and half-empty magazines.

Battlefleet Gothic was haemorrhaging to death.

The Pirates Haven

For five long years Battlefleet Gothic had fought a losing war against two enemies at once, then came an event that was to shift the balance of power. In early 149.M41 Inquisitorial agents at last succeeded in penetrating the support network of the notorious Wolf Packs. They learned that (as many had long suspected) the Wolf Packs were operating with the full support of Abaddon, but far more importantly that the forces of Chaos had gifted them with a permanent base in the Quinrox Sound, right under the Imperium's nose. With roughly 50 pirate frigates operating from this base the Wolf Packs could strike at targets operating right across the sector, and it was here that their spy network was based.

Lord Admiral Ravensburg entrusted the task of rooting out these heretics to Fleet-Admiral Mourndark and gave him orders to deal with the threat however he saw fit. Fleet-Admiral Mourndark established his flag on the Overlord class Battlecruiser '_Cypra Probatii'_, supported by the combat carrier _'Fortitude' _and the light cruisers, '_Havoc'_ and _'Uziel'_. Also by drawing from Battle groups across the sector Fleet-Admiral Mourndark was able to piece together three squadrons of escort frigates, more than enough to prosecute his orders. With a large convoy of empty transports, Fleet-Admiral Mourndark lured the pirates into attacking, catching them in an ambush with bomber squadrons from the '_Fortitude_'. With the aid of Master Navigator Absalom Draal, the Battlegroup was able to track the pirates through the Warp to their base in the deserted Barbarus system. Confident in the knowledge that they were safe in their den the pirates had given little thought to defences.

The Imperial attack came as a total surprise, Fleet-Admiral Mourndark later reported, "_We fell upon them like hounds at the chase, they tried to scurry for their bolt holes but my escort frigates were ready for them. The 'Cypra Probatti' herself claimed fifteen kills that day while 'Havoc' and 'Uziel' burned their orbital dock stem to stern with their prow lances. Some dozen ships fled to the sulphurous surface of Barbarus II, thinking they were safe from our guns, how wrong they were. Bomber squadrons from 'Fortitude' hunted them down on the surface and flying back-to-back sorties punished them severely. Only three vessels emerged from the yellow soot of an atmosphere, pleading for clemency. We showed them the same mercy they gave their victims!"_

With the Wolf Packs finally dealt a crippling blow Lord Admiral Ravensburg was at last able to devote sufficient resources to dealing with the threat of Chaos and begin the long task of clawing back what had been taken.

**150-151.M41: The Imperium Resurgent**

**For seven years the Imperium had been fighting defensively across an extended battlefront. Now with their flank at last secure, Lord Admiral Ravensburg decided the time had come to claim back the initiative. **

**Battlefleet Gothic was going on the offensive.**

The Battle of Gethsemane

Knowing that although the Chaos ships were more numerous overall, they were divided into many smaller fleets, it was Lord Admiral Ravensburg's hope that he could destroy his attackers if he could bring the weight of Battlefleet Gothic to bear against each fleet individually. This was a very risky ploy, because to amass sufficient strength meant weakening other Battlegroups across the sector. Ravensburg is recorded as saying, "_These are troubled times that require resolute action. If we do not act boldly and with confidence of victory we will be bled dry within ten years, losing the entire sector to the enemy. Not only would a decisive blow eliminate enemy vessels, it would send a message to the Chaos fleets and Imperial forces alike: The Imperium is not going down without a fight! _"

After numerous false starts and aborted attacks Lord Admiral Ravensburg saw his first real chance at the start of 151.M41, when scout vessels detected a sizeable Chaos fleet entering the Gethsemane system. Stationed in the neighbouring Orar sub the taskforce at last had a chance to deal the enemy a serious blow. Taking personal command of the task force from the fleet Flagship, the mighty Battleship, '_Divine Right', _Lord Admiral Ravensburg gave the order to set sail. It was to be the largest single Battlegroup assembled in the Gothic Sector up to that time. In addition to his flagship, there was the awesome Battleship, '_Cardinal Boras'_ with more than a dozen capital ships and with fully twenty escort frigates! Legendary names such as, '_Cypra Probatii', 'Invincible', 'Lord Daros', 'Jotunheim', 'Drachenfels', 'Sirius', 'Legend of Romulus', 'Mjollnir', 'Sword of Orion', 'Hammer of Justice', 'Zealous', 'Minotaur', 'Iron Duke', _were all present as well as the combat carriers,_ 'Macharius' _and the legendary_ 'Imperious', _commanded by none other than Compel Bast, the hero of Orar.

The armada translated back to real-space in mid 151.M41, and made best speed into the system. Suddenly becoming aware of their plight the Chaos fleet broke off its assaults and tried to escape out-system. For the next three weeks the two fleets hunted each other across the void, neither commander willing to commit his resources against an enemy whose position was unknown. The chase was long and many began to wonder if the opportunity had evaded them once again, when suddenly the two forces ran straight into each other in orbit of Gethsemane II. Forced into a head on clash the Imperials had the advantage, launching a massive wave of torpedoes into the enemy formation. The foe was forced to break formation to avoid catastrophe, though not all succeeded, the infamous '_Deathblade' _was caught amidships by several torpedoes and was left adrift, reeling from the blow. Recognising providence when he saw it Captain Bast on the _'Imperious'_ fired his Nova cannon, catching his hated rival with the rare and temperamental weapon. The prow of the '_Deathblade' _was shattered into a billion pieces and her reactors went into overload, ending her tale of infamy at last.

Seizing his only chance Lord Admiral Ravensburg drove his entire fleet straight into the hole in the enemy line. He is recorded as uttering his most famous statement, "_Into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell!_" even as his ships fired both port and starboard broadsides simultaneously. The battle was short and bloody, rolling broadsides catching the enemy ships in a maelstrom of destruction. In a few minutes the cruisers, '_Malignus Maximus', 'Steel Fang', 'Wanton Desecration', 'Corpsemaker' _and a dozen escort frigates all were reduced to burning hulks by the sheer weight of fire and the continuous bomber assaults. Many other ships received crippling damage including the enemy flagship '_Nergal'_ and the_ 'Foe-Reaper', _one of the few remaining examples of the now defunct Grand-Cruiser class. But the Imperials had not escaped harm themselves; the cruisers, '_Minotaur', 'Legend of Romulus', _and the _'Jotenheim'_, along with five escort frigates had all been battered into submission. And many other ships including the '_Lord Daros', _the_ 'Invincible', _the _'Mjollnir'_ and the '_Zealous_', would not survive Warp transit without lengthy refits.

The Imperials came hard about, intending to finish the job properly this time, but the Chaos warlord had other ideas. Accelerating away the renegades tried to break off and escape; dropping swarms of mines in their wake to deter pursuit.

Frustrated the Imperials could only sit helpless as their foe pulled away, but both sides were to be surprised as a new force emerged from nowhere: the sleek ships of the Eldar. Flag-lieutenant Drew aboard the '_Divine Right'_ wrote in his log, "_They attacked without warning, one minute the screen was clear the next it was filled with the distortions and confusion of surveyors that herald the approach of the Eldar. We could barely see them but we recognised the colours of the Executioners amongst their vessels, and we feared for our lives. But even as we attempted to haul onto a new heading, our dread became ecstasy. The Eldar attacked the enemy, not us! Withering pulsar lance shots gutted their vessels and I saw the 'Nurgal' explode as its warp-drives imploded. _"

Caught between the rapier of the Eldar fleet and the sledgehammer of the Imperials the Chaos fleet was annihilated, with not a single ship escaping the system. After the last vessel was reduced to a flaming wreck an Eldar cruiser requested permission to come alongside the '_Divine Right'_ and transfer a passenger. The ship's commissar officially protested but Lord Admiral Ravensburg granted permission, and seemed not at all surprised when the only passenger turned out to be Inquisitor Horst!

How the venerable Inquisitor brought the Eldar into the fight has never been determined but many presume he told them of the terrible events at Purgtory and Ornsworld and convinced them that an alliance was their only hope of surviving the power of the Blackstone Fortresses.

Hope is kindled

The battle of Gethsemane proved to be a far more significant victory than Lord Admiral Ravensburg could ever have dared to dream of. Across the sector, jubilation reigned in every city; loyal worlds redoubled their efforts while wavering planets suddenly could not do enough to pledge their commitment to the cause. Even more significantly the level of pirate attacks dropped from low to practically non-existent, presumably as their spies dropped back into society and hid. There were even reports that worlds conquered by Chaos, previously downtrodden and beaten, suddenly seethed with rebellion and insurrection.

Imperial spies never learned of Abaddon's reaction to the news but one can presume it was not pleasant.

But most importantly of all, the previously impenetrable Warp-Storms isolating the region suddenly began to abate and allow a few reinforcements to slip through from neighbouring sectors. Most scholars believe that Abaddon had merely taken advantage of the Warp-Storms to launch his attacks and that by preventing a swift victory Battlefleet Gothic had bought themselves the time they needed. Other, less scientific, scholars suggest that the waves of hope and happiness sweeping the sector had influenced the immaterium, directly counteracting the power of the Warp-Storms. A few even dare to hint that the battle of Gethsemane had rocked Abaddon's status with his patrons and that they were now withdrawing their favour from him.

The first ships to slip through the weakening Warp-Storms were the Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges of the Adeptus Astartes. Bringing the elite troops from the Exorcists, Red Talons, White Consuls and Dark Angels Chapters into the fray.

Truly the tide of war had turned against the forces of Chaos.

The Destruction of Tarantis

Just as Lord Admiral Ravensburg had never contemplated defeat, it seem that Abaddon was equally loath to give up what he had won. The victory at Gethsemane had been a grievous blow to the forces of Chaos but that was but one fleet among many, and all knew that it was Abaddon himself who presented the greatest threat to the Imperium. Just how much of a threat was not realised until the attack upon the Tarantis system. Located in the Lysades sub, Tarantis was the first waypoint for ships traversing the weakened warp storms from the neighbouring Tamahl sector. And it was here that Abaddon tried to stem the flow of reinforcements coming in.

His main fleet, accompanied by all three of the missing Blackstone Fortresses, swept aside the Imperial ships that gathered to oppose them. The defenders fell back to Tarantis IV, expecting the next blow to fall here, but Abaddon had other plans. His fleet carefully avoided all the planetary bodies in the system, and their defence networks, and approached the Tarantis star itself. What happened next was to totally eclipse all the horrific events of the war so far.

Combining their power together, as they had at Fularis, the Blackstones unleashed a massive energy wave into the star itself. With their objective completed the Chaos ships conducted a fighting withdrawal and jumped into Warp space once more. For a whole month, the Tarantis star raged and boiled. Tortured storms moved across its surface and its corona expanded to engulf the two nearest worlds. Any that could, fled the system, but to evacuate an entire world and its colonies was an impossible task. Thirty-two days after Abaddon's attack, Tarantis' star went nova, wiping out everything in the system in an inferno of burning plasma. A whole star system was no more and Abaddon had the power to unleash this destruction wherever he wished.

The Trap is Sprung

Lord Admiral Ravensburg firmly believed that Abaddon would try to capture the other three Blackstone Fortresses, but he had no idea against which of the three the Despoiler would strike next. The hunt continued for six months, with Imperial and Eldar ships patrolling through long forgotten systems in a desperate bid to find Abaddon and his horrific weapons. Then the forces of order made a breakthrough: the Eldar had located Abaddon himself in the Lysades sub and were tracking him through the Warp.

From his course it was clear that the Despoiler was preparing to launch an attack on Schindlegeist, where Blackstone V floated in the depths of space. Leaving only a few vessels to deny the other Chaos fleets Battlefleet Gothic amassed the bulk of their forces into one unstoppable armada. Using ancient Warp passages shown to them by the Eldar, the Imperials sped across the sector and arrived five days before Abaddon was due to reach the area. With a constant stream of information concerning Abaddon's actions the Imperial and Eldar ships lay in wait.

The Chaos fleet was taken completely by surprise, and were heavily outnumbered. The Imperial battle lines hammered the enemy at close range, while the Eldar darted and skipped around the flanks, denying the enemy the freedom to fight effectively. For three days the mighty fleets duelled, inflicting horrendous casualties on both sides, the Imperials had position and numbers but the foe still wielded the power of the Blackstone Fortresses and wrought terrible damage with them. But for all their ferocity the Chaos ships simply could not match the forces arrayed against them. As the third day of fighting drew to its bloody conclusion, Abaddon once more broke his Blackstones through the Imperial defence and headed towards the star. Lord Admiral Ravensburg could do little to stop the behemoths and only the crippled Battlecruiser '_Flame of Purity'_ stood between Abaddon and his objective.

As the Fortresses built up power for their cataclysmic attack, they were again linked by raging torrents of energy. Seeing only one chance Captain Abridal ordered all power to the shields and drove the '_Flame of Purity' _into the middle of the converging energy waves. The ship was annihilated instantly, scattered into its constituent atoms. However the detonation had expended the Fortress' power and, as Abridal had hoped, the Blackstones were left drifting and helpless. It would take much time for them to rebuild their power levels; luckily time was something that Abaddon had run out of.

Abaddon's Defeat

Their power systems drained, the Blackstone Fortresses could do little, Abaddon managed to escape into the Warp with two of them, after abandoning the bulk of his forces and a lengthy chase to the edges of the Schindlegeist system. The Imperial

Fleet closed in on the third, unleashing all of their weapons, although still to little effect. Finally two strike cruisers from the Dark Angels Chapter, combined with assault boats from the '_Divine Right'_ boarded the isolated Blackstone in an attempt to recapture it.

Ensign Goldwyn was part of the Navy's boarding party and he later reported, "_We were astounded to find no crew aboard the Blackstone Fortress. There was no opposition at all to our boarding and on entering I found it entirely unrecognisable from the base where I had been trained. The walls themselves pulsed with energy, the surface of which had become a deep-veined black, totally unlike the harsh white-painted corridors and rooms I had called home for six years. There was no sign at all of the modifications the Tech-priests had made, as if our intrusion had been totally expunged._

_We penetrated deep into the Fortress without opposition, the Dark Angels immediately taking off on their own without bothering to explain what they were up to. It was perhaps an hour later when suddenly a high-pitched whine filled the air and the walls became ruddy in colour. A sense of panic filled our hearts and we hurried back to the assault boats. We were just in time, as no sooner had we left than the Fortress began to break up, slowly shattering into thousands of fragments. It should have been a happy moment to see our enemy destroyed but, although I cannot say why, my heart was filled with sorrow and I could not get over the feeling that something magnificent had died. _"

At about the same time that the recaptured Blackstone destroyed itself, the other Fortresses across the Gothic Sector also self-destructed. Nobody knows if the Fortresses under Abaddon's control destroyed themselves in a similar fashion. Rumours have sighted the Despoiler both with and without the mysterious artefacts. How or why the Blackstone Fortresses were obliterated remains a mystery, but Inquisitor Horst wrote to Lord Admiral Ravensburg, "_Who can tell what Abaddon could have done with all six? Some things are too dangerous to be allowed exist and someone, somewhere decided that the Blackstone Fortresses are amongst those things…_"

**152-160.M41: The closing years**

**With Abaddon's fleet gone, the attention of the Imperial Navy was turned on the other Chaos fleets. The Warp-storms isolating the Gothic Sector had completely blown out and scores of fresh vessels piled into the fight.**

Overwhelming Forces

Many of the Chaos Warlords followed Abaddon and fled back to the Eye of Terror, to nurse their hatred and bitterness until another opportunity to attack came. Four Battlegroups, each consisting of a dozen capital ships and escorts, hunted and destroyed many of those who remained. The Chaos fleets slipped from system to system, turning to fight when the odds were in their favour, fleeing before Imperial wrath at other times. In the Port Maw sub-sector, titanic running battles between Admiral Storn's second Cruiser battlegroup and the warfleet of Heinrich Bale lasted for two years. The Battle for Quinrox Sound claimed yet more lives as solitary Chaos vessels sped through the debris fields, picking off the occasional Imperial escort or cruiser sent to hunt them down.

The Wolves Scatter

As more warships of Chaos departed or were destroyed, Lord Admiral Ravensburg ordered two of the largest Battlegroups to concentrate of the pirates and raiders who still operated in the Gothic Sector. Like the Chaos fleets the warbands were hunted down and eradicated, many of them breaking up and seeking sanctuary in forgotten star systems and in uncharted asteroid fields. The Orks of the Cyclops Cluster became the target of extensive pogroms, forced from worlds where they had enslaved millions. Smashed from star systems where their crude vessels had preyed upon Imperial shipping.

Death of the Planet Killer

As the forces of Chaos were routed many renegade Captains became desperate, striking out at targets with little or no strategic planning. It was in the Bhein Morr sub-sector that the infamous '_Planet Killer'_ was sighted once more. Several task forces were despatched to intercept it and it was in orbit over Kharlos II that four cruisers of the Omega group ambushed the mighty weapon. Using torpedo salvoes at extreme long range, the '_Iron Duke' 'Retribution' 'Agrippa'_ and the_ 'Justicar' _hounded the isolated '_Planet Killer'_ and reduced it to a burning hulk. There was much jubilation across the sector at this news, but when recovery ships from the Adpetus Mechanicus came to salvage the hulk, it was gone. Many claim that it must have broken up, others that it fell into a gravity well or Warp-rift, but there are still some who fear that the forces of Chaos reclaimed their weapon and that the _'Planet Killer'_ will return to plague the Imperium once more.

The Stain is Cleansed

Although the battles across the stars were drawing to a close, it took a further eight years to retake the worlds that had been captured by the forces of Chaos. Many of them were utterly devastated, their populations enslaved or sacrificed to the Dark Gods, the lands ravaged by war. Slowly but surely, the Imperial Guard scoured those planets of the taint of Chaos. The Missionaries and Confessors of the Ecclesiarchy set about restoring faith in the Emperor and the Inquisition hunted down those who had collaborated with the followers of the Ruinous Powers. However the fight can never be truly finished, and there are worlds within the Graildark Nebula that still await the Emperor's fleets to free them. Even today there are still a few Chaos vessels roaming the depths between the Hammerhead Deeps and the Cyclops Cluster, waiting for their chance to strike again.

The Rewards of Victory

For the Imperial Navy, and Battlefleet Gothic in particular, the cost had been high, both in human life and in number of ships. Great sacrifices had been made and great heroes had met the challenge. Through the determination, courage and loyalty of every man in the Navy, the war had been won.

The High Lords of Terra recognised the efforts of the entire sector fleet and the name of each and every officer who served in the war, from Lord Admiral Ravensburg to the youngest ensign, was engraved upon a specially constructed monolith that stands ten times the height of a man in the Chambers of Heroes on Terra itself. Inquisitor Horst slipped away to pursue his duties elsewhere and it is rumoured that he spent the rest of his life hunting Abaddon, questing to discover what had become of the Blackstone Fortresses he may have escaped with. Of the success of his self-imposed mission, no report has ever been made and he has not been seen since the end of the Gothic War.

Through those dark times, the Gothic Sector had survived and life would eventually return to normal for the brave men of the Imperial Navy: the running battles with Eldar pirates, the constant search for traitorous smugglers, the crushing of heretics and rebels and the thousand other jobs for which humanity owes the Imperial Navy its eternal thanks.

_+++Desperation+++_

_It had been three days since their initial encounter with the enemy battleship 'Contagion', in the Dolorosa system. Three days that saw the Cruiser Macharius running and making emergency Warp-jumps in a futile effort to shake their stalker. Running skirmishes and lightning strikes had crippled both vessels, indeed the Macharius had given as good as it got, but in the long term there was no way the out-gunned cruiser could survive. Nothing Captain Semper had tried had succeeded in shaking off the demonically piloted battleship and now they had nowhere left to run. They were trapped, caught in a vicious Warp current without sufficient power to escape or translate back to Real-space. _

"_Warning power system failure," intoned a Tech-priest dolefully. Captain Semper swore realising his command was about to come to an inglorious end. Everyone on board the Macharius was already dead and dead men have nothing left to loose. _

"_Lower Gellar field to 60% of normal safety level!" Semper yelled, "Channel excess power into manoeuvring systems and hold it there in reserve."_

"_No!" cried tech-priest Castaboras, "Commissar Kyogen you must stop him, without the Gellar Field we will have no defence against the raw essence of the Warp!" _

_Semper looked up to see the ship's commissar bearing down on him, sidearm already drawn, when the figure of Hito Ulanti interposed itself in front of the commissar. The Flag-Lieutenant stared down the barrel of the bolt pistol now levelled at his face and said, "As second-in-command I concur with the Captain's order, commissar. Shoot us if you must but our deaths will precede yours by a matter of minutes. This way the Macharius has a fighting chance."_

_Kyogen's aim never faltered as he called, "Magos Castaboras: is such a stratagem possible?"_

"_Possibly… but the greater probability is that"_

"_Thank you Magos, that's all I needed to hear." Said Kyogen as he holstered his pistol, "You may proceed, Captain"_

_Semper watched the image readings on the main surveyor screen. The Contagion had come around and was now standing off their port bow, from where it could safely finish them off with its long-range batteries. Come on, you arrogant bastard, thought Semper. This is what you want. This is what you've been fighting for these few days. Come in close and gloat on your moment of victory._

_He's not taking the bait, thought Semper, we must raise the stakes. "Lower the Gellar Field to 45%." Called the Captain, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. There was a deep groan from the superstructure as the pressure of multiple dimensions began to crush the ship and every man's mind was invaded by an obscene whispering noise. Magos Castaboras led his adepts in desperate prayer and lit their sacred incense in an attempt to rally the Macharius' machine-spirit to resist the force of the Warp. _

_Semper stared at the surveyor screen, eyes fixed on the blip that was the Contagion. The forces of Chaos were fell handed foes, but they lacked discipline, how could any follower of the Ruinous powers resist the spectacle of seeing a vessel torn apart by the Immaterium. Surely the prospect of feasting upon so many souls would be irresistible to them. Suddenly the surveyor servitors called out, "Aspect change, enemy vessel coming about, increased energy emissions from drives, contact is closing."_

_Semper dared not breathe as he watched the icons on the screens crawl closer together. He willed the Macharius to hold out just a few more microseconds. Then it was done; the foe was too close, presenting his vulnerable belly to the seemingly dying Macharius. _

_Semper was already calling out orders as he finished the thought "Reroute power back to Gellar Field immediately! Channel reserve battery systems to manoeuvring thrusters. Helm control, hard a port! Mister Ulanti…"_

"_Torpedoes, Captain?" supplied the Flag-lieutenant with a savage grin._

_The Captain's vicious smile matched that of his officer as he said triumphantly "Yes indeed Mister Ulanti… Torpedoes." _

_On the Contagion's bridge the sickening mass of mutated flesh that once was her Captain screamed abuse at his slaves as panic reigned. Amid the pulsing flickers of warp light and lucid shadows hung the holo-image of the Macharius as it slowly swung its prow around. To the nameless beast it was like staring down the barrel of a bolt pistol, or rather six bolt pistols as the massive torpedo tubes ground open revealing their deadly cargo. The beast screamed in rage and frustration desperate to escape as he saw long plumes of exhaust gases venting but it was too late, the Torpedoes could not possibly miss: not at this range. _

_From the shadows of tubes stormed six slab sided torpedoes, moving so fast they almost instantly ploughed into the Contagion's belly. A massive series of explosions tore into the adamantium skin, directed melta fire liquefying all it touched, however this was but the first scratch. A microsecond later the bulk of the torpedoes slammed through the rents tearing deep into the bowels of the hated enemy. For a few seconds inertia carried the mighty missiles deeper within, tearing through decks and crushing hundreds of slaves through sheer brute force. Then the plasma warheads detonated: five new stars were born within the diseased bulk of the Contagion, atomising whole sections and tearing the vessel in half. One warhead misfired, its charges failing to reach critical mass; instead they burnt as conventional explosives, causing just enough damage blast free the topmost decks free from the dying wreck. The Contagion's nameless captain screamed in terror as he was flung away pinned down by sheer inertia as the bridge was dropped directly into the Warp. He lived just long enough to experience the full horror of his fate as all the Daemons of hell rushed in to claim the soul he had knowingly promised them so long ago._


End file.
